Good way to handle it by Byron! He's either goint to make MJ lose by not accepting the challenge, or he will make MJ lose by accepting the challenge. Checkmate.

Also, he comes across as a much nicer guy in the process.

If I were a network, I'd approach both these guys and try to make it happen. Maybe it could be one of the events for next year's all-star game.

Come to think of it, a legends one-on-one game would be a pretty big draw I would think. Especially if they took it seriously. Bird vs. Magic. Laimbeer vs. Kareem. Isiah vs. Stockton. Even a match between a couple of screw-ups would be fun to watch. Rodmad vs. Pollard.

1. STOCKTON/ISIAH: The biggest backcourt rivalry of our era showed just how classy true competitors can be in a humble driven moment. To see those two hug after all they went through was the moment of the evening.

2. Stockton to David Robinson after ridiculously mentioning Tim Duncan was the greatest power forward ever: "No offense, David, but KARL MALONE was the greatest power forward of all time!" The key word , TIMMAY< being POWER forward!

3. C Vivian Springer showing the strength of a woman in spite of all her adversities to deliver a classy speech that ALL women and husbands should have heard. She is the Arthur Ashe of female basketball.

4. David Robinson is a MAN. A Navy man speech. Short speech, straight and to the point. Great mention of how influential Avery Johnson was. Its why the Spurs will forever be PISTONS SOUTHWEST. I love that team in awe like how I awed the Celtics of the Bird era.

5. Stockton was hilarious!!! One of his Quotes: "I'll have to press this tux for Karl's enshrinement next year!" Also, sexy looking wife...Grrr=MIL*!...

6. Jerry Sloan almost breaking down on the mention of my favorite palyer of the 70's, Norm Van Lier. (Why the HELL Fat Chuck was up there , I'll NEVER know)

7. The HIghlights of their careers was awesome.

8. The tragic mention of the passing of Mr D and Daddy Rich was emotional for me. But remembering how Isaih turned our lives around dedicating himself to be a world championship for this city.

1. STOCKTON/ISIAH: The biggest backcourt rivalry of our era showed just how classy true competitors can be in a humble driven moment. To see those two hug after all they went through was the moment of the evening.

2. Stockton to David Robinson after ridiculously mentioning Tim Duncan was the greatest power forward ever: "No offense, David, but KARL MALONE was the greatest power forward of all time!" The key word , TIMMAY< being POWER forward!

3. C Vivian Springer showing the strength of a woman in spite of all her adversities to deliver a classy speech that ALL women and husbands should have heard. She is the Arthur Ashe of female basketball.

4. David Robinson is a MAN. A Navy man speech. Short speech, straight and to the point. Great mention of how influential Avery Johnson was. Its why the Spurs will forever be PISTONS SOUTHWEST. I love that team in awe like how I awed the Celtics of the Bird era.

5. Stockton was hilarious!!! One of his Quotes: "I'll have to press this tux for Karl's enshrinement next year!" Also, sexy looking wife...Grrr=MIL*!...

6. Jerry Sloan almost breaking down on the mention of my favorite palyer of the 70's, Norm Van Lier. (Why the HELL Fat Chuck was up there , I'll NEVER know)

7. The HIghlights of their careers was awesome.

8. The tragic mention of the passing of Mr D and Daddy Rich was emotional for me. But remembering how Isaih turned our lives around dedicating himself to be a world championship for this city.

Just seeing a somewhat [STRIKE]sober[/STRIKE] solemn Dennis Rodman show up to an event and it was not a reality tv show was a good. There was no sightings of him at the Pistons 50 "greatest" event or Chuck Daly's funeral..

I watched the whole thing. I think he was trying to be sarcastic for the most part and his humor came across the wrong way.

He was not anointed the King or anything when he came into the league as the 2nd pick in the draft. So I think some of that was his attempt to address what he had to go through and how that made him a better player as compared to today's stars who get that kind of respect right off.

I watched the whole thing. I think he was trying to be sarcastic for the most part and his humor came across the wrong way.

He was not anointed the King or anything when he came into the league as the 2nd pick in the draft. So I think some of that was his attempt to address what he had to go through and how that made him a better player as compared to today's stars who get that kind of respect right off.

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I agree with you, I think it was just a bad speech more than anything.

Bill Simmons alluded to the fact that he was drinking heavily, but that may have been a joke.

Are you sure it was not meant as a joke? Most of that in that speech was that no one really got.

Thing is people remember the old Jordan from the mid-90's who got all the calls but it was not like that earlier on. If anyone has the chance to see the 86 playoff game against the Celts when he scored 63 points in the Garden then that will give you an idea of what it was like.

Are you sure it was not meant as a joke? Most of that in that speech was that no one really got.

Thing is people remember the old Jordan from the mid-90's who got all the calls but it was not like that earlier on. If anyone has the chance to see the 86 playoff game against the Celts when he scored 63 points in the Garden then that will give you an idea of what it was like.

I never liked Jordan too much but I always respected him.

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agreed, i HATE him as much as any person in sports over the years (well as much as I could hate somebody that i didn't really know) but he worked thru the bad boys... if he would have gotten the calls that todays superstars had gotten we would have not won back to back titles.... and if he was in his prime today.... there would be no question who was better... I'd love to see queen james, Kobe, or Wade play with the late 80's play style.

agreed, i HATE him as much as any person in sports over the years (well as much as I could hate somebody that i didn't really know) but he worked thru the bad boys... if he would have gotten the calls that todays superstars had gotten we would have not won back to back titles.... and if he was in his prime today.... there would be no question who was better... I'd love to see queen james, Kobe, or Wade play with the late 80's play style.

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Yes those Piston-Bull matchups were legendary. Reason why I brought up the 86 game is that it's the one early Jordan game that you are likely to find on Classic sports. I think 63 points is still the record - and that was in hostile territory.

I thought it a bit odd that Jordan never brought up the old Pistons during his speech. He spent some time talking about the Pat Riley Nick/Heat teams that they always trounced during the 90's but nothing on the Pistons. Maybe it was out of respect as to not gloat on on finally beating them. But the Pistons did play a big part on making him a champion - he has referenced that before in other interviews.

Love or Hate the Bulls back then but they were a rare breed. 6 championships in 8 years and they tried just as hard for #6 as they did for #1. No getting bored during the season, no switch, they just went out and tried to beat the other team as soon as possible. Pippen ( I think ) once said that during the 72 win season the Starters were able to stay fresh by putting away most teams during the ist 3 quarters so they could watch the 4th from the bench.

Are you sure it was not meant as a joke? Most of that in that speech was that no one really got.

Thing is people remember the old Jordan from the mid-90's who got all the calls but it was not like that earlier on. If anyone has the chance to see the 86 playoff game against the Celts when he scored 63 points in the Garden then that will give you an idea of what it was like.

I never liked Jordan too much but I always respected him.

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They were both jokes and that is what I meant. Bill Simmons is pretty light hearted when he writes. MJ didn't seem drunk, but all too sober.

I watched the whole thing. I think he was trying to be sarcastic for the most part and his humor came across the wrong way.

He was not anointed the King or anything when he came into the league as the 2nd pick in the draft. So I think some of that was his attempt to address what he had to go through and how that made him a better player as compared to today's stars who get that kind of respect right off.

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I thought it was funny for the most part. Don't know what all the fuss is about

I admit that after watching the speech in its entirety, Jordan doesn't come off half as arrogant and spiteful as he did in the excerpts shown on the networks. Throughout the speech he is thanking the people that motivated him. He does make a lot of little jokes at some people's expense, but there are only a few things that I would say really are a bit crass. Very poor choice of words when talking to his kids - literally telling them that he would hate to be them. Maybe he didn't mean it the way it sounded, but it sounded pretty bad.

For the most part, I don't feel like he was really trying to diss people with his comments. It appeared that way watching short clips on the news, but watching the whole speech places those statements more in context, I think. For the most part, the speech was funny and insightful about what motivated Jordan throughout his life.

The problem is that he is thanking people who weren't intentially trying to motivate him.

His high school basketball teammate wasn't trying to make MJ a better player, he was just trying to make a high school bball team. Isiah wasn't trying to help MJ out by freezing him out in the all-star game, he was being a jerk. Russell was trash talking when he said that he wanted a chance to guard him.

So, when you thank a bunch of people who weren't actually trying to help you, it comes off as disingenuous.

To his HS coach: you picked the wrong player, dude. What a heart felt thanks that one was!

I knew it was a bad sign when he slipped in the word %%%% early in the speech and ESPN didn't think to time delay this event.